IDEA: Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life
Words to spark:
Hope, sacrifice, lamb, lion, good, perfect, man, God, incarnate Word, Word, Savior, King, Lord, Gentle, Loving, forgiveness, salvation, Purchaser, Propitiation, Enough, Ransom, Payment, Satisfaction, Grace, Power, Fierce, Unstoppable, Son, Champion, Way, Bridge, Path, Truth, Life, Example, Humble, beautiful, peaceful, Lion, Lamb, Protector, Hero, Model, Template, Inspiration, Road, Way, Path, Map, Guide, Leader, King,
Scripture:
Galatians 4:4-5 (NLT)
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
Ephesians 2:4-5 (NLT)
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
1 Peter 3:18 (NLT)
18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
Matthew 20:28 (NLT)
28 For even the Son of Man [Jesus] came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
John 14:6 (NLT)
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Colossians 1:17 (NLT)
17 He existed before anything else and He holds all creation together.
Thought:
Even while suffering the full wrath of God, hanging on the cross, tortured by His beloved creation, Jesus held creation together.
Meditation:
Once upon a time there was a wise and loving King. He was exactly everything a King should be.
Sadly there was a terrible darkness in His land.
Darkness itself isn’t terrible. Most of the world passes through darkness every night to get to the next day. This darkness though, this darkness was awful. This darkness carried with it a deadly disease. The people of the land reacted to it in various ways. Some fell ill immediately and died quickly. Some wasted away slowly over months and years.
The disease afflicted hearts and minds alike. It twisted thoughts into ugly and desperate notions. People would look to all manners of treatments and medicines. It manifested in coldness and bitterness and selfishness. Many hated the darkness because of what it did to them, but even more embraced it. Some even worshipped it, as though it could improve their lives when all it did was destroy them.
The King himself did not fear the darkness. It couldn’t hurt Him.
In truth, the darkness couldn’t even be in the King’s presence.
Sadly, it had such a hold on the people that they also couldn’t be in the King’s presence.
Perhaps the saddest part of this tale was the source of the darkness.
It didn’t come from over the hills, or under the ground. It didn’t parade into the land as a conqueror. It slipped in quietly like a thief. In truth, the darkness didn’t come from outside at all. It came from inside the people.
The King had a name for the darkness. He called it sin.
The King had a name for the disease too. He called it death.
He sent messages to His people repeatedly, warning them of sin and death. He gave them steps to take to cleanse themselves of the sin. Some people listened
Most did not.
The darkness grew, the people withered and hopelessness seemed to cover the land.
But the King had a Son
We don’t know how the conversation went between Father and Son regarding the darkness and what they were going to do about it. All we know is the King had a plan. From the very beginning, He had a plan. The darkness had to be destroyed completely and replaced with Light. The King’s Light.
His beloved Son took off His crown and laid it down.
That is an important detail to remember. No one could take the Son’s crown from Him. He surrendered it. He laid it down. And once His work was finished He would take it up again.
And so, weaponless, defenseless and carrying nothing but His light, the Son ran.
He ran into the thickest part of the darkness. He was on a rescue mission, and nothing would stop Him; not even death. The King’s Son terrified the darkness, and it fled before Him. The Son Himself was the cure for the disease. It’s not that He carried the Light, He was the Light.
Darkness and Light are not equals. They cannot coexist together. Wherever there is Light, the darkness flees.
Relentlessly, the King’s Son chased the darkness throughout the land all the way to a hill called Golgotha. There was where His work would be finished.
If there is sin, a payment is demanded; and that payment is a life. And so the Son met with the darkness for the first time at the intersection of two pieces of wood crossing one another. The darkness celebrated as the Son allowed Himself to be nailed to that cross. To everyone watching, it seemed the Son was to die and the darkness was to win. Those people missed an important truth.
Just as the Son laid down His crown, so that He could take it up again, He laid down His life, satisfying the payment sin demanded.
The Son was not killed. He. laid. down. His. life.
And because the darkness cannot ever overcome the Light, three days later He took it up again!
Sin was defeated, death was dead and the King’s Son, the Prince of Peace, Immanuel, Jesus Christ the Messiah lives.
And so, in the fanciful mind of those who love the King and love His Son, we wonder if perhaps on that night in Bethlehem when Jesus Christ was born, did God say once again:
Let there be Light?
Are you headed toward darkness or toward the Light?
Are you focusing on the temporary shadows of this world, or the infinite, blazing Light of Jesus Christ?
If you have not, then I urge you, repent, turn away from fruitless deeds of sin and death. Cast yourself completely on Jesus Christ. Confess your sins and ask to be washed clean.
Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved.
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